Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 35
35
Accepted
Paragraph: 144
Barriers to data-sharing between health and social care have been a long-standing challenge, so we...
Recommendation
Barriers to data-sharing between health and social care have been a long-standing challenge, so we particularly welcome the Government’s ambition to have shared care records for all citizens by 2024. It is vital that this ambition becomes a reality. 80 Long-term funding of adult social care The Government should set up pilot schemes for shared care records, co-produced with people receiving care, carers, and care workers, and should report regularly on progress towards its 2024 target. Beyond 2024, the Government should publish annually the proportion of citizens who have shared care records and take steps to address any areas with particularly low take-up.
Government Response Summary
The government claims to be addressing this already through the Digital Health and Care Plan, funding for integrated care systems to acquire shared record systems, and supporting local systems to develop care planning systems, including patient and carer input.
Paragraph Reference:
144
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We welcome the committee’s interest in the government’s ambition to have shared care records for all citizens. The Digital Health and Care Plan, published in June 2022, sets out our expectation that by April 2025, health and care professionals will have authorised access to a comprehensive view of a person’s health record, including their medications and key aspects of their health and care history and plans. In 2021–22 we funded all integrated care systems (ICSs) to acquire a basic shared record system, and these are now being implemented across the country. One of the more advanced implementations, the London Care Record, is accessed more than a million times a month while other programmes in the North East, Yorkshire & the Humber, the North West, Hampshire, Bristol and Dorset and across Thames Valley and Surrey all have mature solutions which are supporting health and care professionals deliver integrated care. In many cases providers of social care services are already engaged and authorised staff are able to access relevant information about the people they care for from their local Shared Care Record, saving time spent in chasing information from busy GPs and hospitals. As well as sharing information about the records, as part of the programme we are supporting local systems to develop care planning systems involving local health and social care providers, as well as individuals and their carers. Ready access to such shared care plans is especially important in urgent care situations. We have recently sponsored work in Suffolk and North East Essex ICS to develop an urgent care plan solution with a high level of patient and carer input. This co-production